Spending money always makes me happy. So, I have recently started shopping around for a new car. While there are many el-cheapo local cars to buy, I have decided to go for something a little better. So, I have been going around and visiting the showrooms of various car manufacturers.
While shopping around for a car, I have noticed several things. The Proton showroom that I went to has the worst sales people around. While sales people normally talk my ears off, there were a lot of long silent moments when I was speaking to the Proton sales person. I was waiting for him to tell me things about the car but he just kept silent while I looked at the brochure. According to my parents, this is the normal situation for Proton sales people. How sad.
Anyway, the car that I am looking for is a fairly basic sedan car. I am looking for an starter car and that is what I tell everyone when I step into the showroom. I tell them that I am looking for a basic entry level car. So, that means something in the range of a Toyota Vios, Honda City, Nissan Latio, Proton Persona, Kia Spectra, Hyundai Accent. However, most of the sales people did not understand what I meant.
I found it weird that people don’t normally buy cars like that, which was the impression that I had. I could literally see the confused look on their faces. I guess that they must have been trying to figure out which one of their models was called Starter. Most of them adapted quite quickly and introduced me to a suitable range of cars with a 1.5L engine.
A funny thing happened when I went to the Kia showroom. The sales person decided to introduce me to the new Spectra5, which is like a 5-seater MPV. It even comes with a RM5,000 Samsung voucher that I can use to buy myself a home theatre system if I wanted to. The sales person mentioned that they would normally introduce a 1.1L car as a basic starter car but seeing that I have kids, there is no point buying the small one and upgrading it later to a family car. So, the Spectra5 was a better car.
I then mentioned that I was not married, which resulted in the sudden change of expression on the sales person and silenced that topic immediately. The reason for the misunderstanding was because I had my 2 year old niece and nephew with me. The two kids were having a wonderful time running around and trying out all the different cars. The sales people were also kind enough to be nice to the kids and let them try out all the different cars.
My family feels that I should buy my car before I get a job simply because, it takes a while to get a car. There is always a short waiting period and you cannot really get around Malaysia without a car. Because my family has normally bought local cars, they are now advising me to get a foreign car as local cars will usually have more problems.
Anyway, after seeing 6 different brands, I have a rough idea of what cars are available and what are their prices. I have also learned a thing or two about buying cars. In fact, I have more or less made a choice of which car to get and I will probably go and test drive one next week. As usual, I believe in utilitarianism. So, it will probably not be the most beautiful thing to look at but it will be more than enough to get me from A to B.
Sybreon Ones Nought 